#110 – Patience 1, Sleep 0 - September 21, 2012

Another normal day at work today.  Did not get some analysis done that I was hoping for, but did get a few other things fixed. 

I left about 4:30, and picked up my newest boy scout.  He was a little shocked to see me, I think, and there had not been great communication between his family and me.  But he put together his stuff and we left.   We picked up Christian, loaded the car, and headed out to camp Liahona.  We set up camp, the boys cooked dinner (steaks on the fire, mashed potatoes made without a colander, canned soup, and powdered lemonade, and cinnamon apples for dessert).  It took a few hours, but was pretty good. 

Then it was time to try to sleep. 

This is my first Boy Scout campout since I was a Boy Scout – maybe 14 years old.  I didn’t camp after that because I was busy and the other boys were jerks.  And I remember staying up all night talking in my tent with John Griesen.  I don’t recall us being particularly quiet, nor do I recall anybody telling us to be quiet.  But I do recall seeing the sunlight creep into the tent and being surprised it was already daylight.  That was a very good memory.

But tonight we had 1 tent of boys where one boy was particularly sensitive, and the other boy was particularly obnoxious.  The sensitive boy screams all the time – he seems to have lost his inside voice completely – so we had a screaming 13 year-old boy.  Until midnight, when the pair of them were finally threatened enough to calm down and sleep. 

I don’t recall if this was normal when I was a kid.  I know I didn’t grind my teeth or have to build my patience back then.  I certainly did tonight.  So I’m either going to have to get tougher on the boys or learn to relax.  Either way, it’s a good adventure.